Browsed byCategory: Goals

This article may contain affiliate links. Read our disclaimer. I’ve been tracking my net worth since 2016 and in that time it’s gone up and it’s gone down by a little bit and a lot. (Other financial writers look away for one sentence) I think I’ve come to a point where it doesn’t really matter. Perhaps it was from the stock market being in a tizzy the last few months or just a place you get to after a while…

We have had two windfalls in our lives. The first was when Ms. Blue Ribbon’s grandmother passed away. The money we inherited was used to pay off some new windows on our house (naturally, we financed them). It wasn’t much and wasn’t expected but I feel like we used the money wisely. The second windfall we received was $20k from a family friend who had passed away. This was considerably more and we took our time figuring out exactly what…

New Year’s Resolutions are great in theory. Who doesn’t want to lose 10 pounds or quit (insert annoying habit here)? The problem comes with sticking to these resolutions which is why I don’t believe in them at all. I’d much rather have solid goals throughout the year with clear points to achieve them by and specific measurable ways to validate if I completed them or not (also doesn’t help to have a website that I list them on and have…

What a long strange trip it has been. 2017 seemed to just fly by (a true sign I’m getting older). 2017 brought many things in our household. A new baby, a new side project (this site), plenty of goals, and major financial milestones. If you want to read more about them take a look at Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 updates. Otherwise, let me tell you about this last quarter. October Quite a busy month. We blew through a lot of our…

Woot! It seems like this day would never come. We are officially a quarter of a millionaires! Yes, I know we have a long way to go but it is still pretty exciting. Our assets minus liabilities, for now, are worth about $250k. I wanted to take this milestone to join the ranks of the J Money’s Million Dollar Club. Over at Budgets are Sexy, J. started the Million Dollar Club in order to push himself and others to that…

I have talked about early retirement and why I want it and what is my motivation. Those things are important but don’t mean much without a plan. Yearly goals keep you motivated during the year but they are a small sliver on the timescale. Let me tell you about my three levels of goals. The Bucket List Shortly after Ms. Blue Ribbon and I got out of debt I started thinking about the long term. We have the house and kids…

I’ve mentioned from time to time that we have done a lot of the things to speed up FIRE. Get rid of/avoid debt, have a plan to add more to retirement accounts, and trying to be more frugal. There are things we could still do like get a side hustle, get a higher paying job, and sell our house. Problem is I haven’t found a good side hustle I would excel at and be able to fit in during my…

When Ms. Blue Ribbon and I were married we quickly fell into the American Dream Trap. We got our mortgage, new (financed) car, and extra loan (because we could). Everything was just as it was supposed to be. We were even starting to spend more a month than we were taking in. Having a Why That’s when it happened, our turning point. Ms. Blue Ribbon and I had a baby, Mini Donut. This was our catalyst. I kept trying to make…

When I was first starting out on the path of getting my finances together I stumbled upon the website, BudgetsAreSexy.com J. Money was the one that got me tracking my networth. Maybe the most important thing you can do on your path through personal finance. I’ve been tracking my network since March of 2016. I finally knew if I was making progress. Tracking your network is to help you see if what you are doing is working or not. Adding…

The paying off your mortgage early vs. investing that money debate has been done to death. Everyone has heard the higher return on investment from the market generally outperforms a standard loan interest of around 3% argument. On the other side, everyone can sympathise with the idea of being completely debt free and having your own home. No mortgage sounds like the best thing since sliced almonds. (that’s the expression right?) Like a lot of other posts and the general…